


Photographs

by orphan_account



Series: Collection of short fics [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic, Established Relationship, M/M, Memories, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-01
Updated: 2012-06-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 12:28:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The photo album always made Arthur grin because it was so <i>Merlin</i> - so last minute and thrown together, and yet somehow still perfect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photographs

Arthur only owned one photo album because Morgana had taken all the family ones when Uther died. Arthur's photo album had a special home on the bookshelf in his room - not on the bookshelf downstairs, where all the impressive books went to intimidate guests, but on Arthur's  _private_  bookshelf, wedged in between his battered old copy of 'Mort' and the illustrated version of 'Watership Down' that his father had once read to him when he was six years old and too ill to so much as sneeze.

The photo album was dark blue, made of cheap, faux-leather and had those photo pockets that stuck together and crackled every time you pulled them apart. It wasn't the kind of thing Arthur would buy - Merlin had picked it up one day on his way home from the library, and decided to give it to Arthur as a birthday present. Inside the cover he had scrawled

**_Arthur, I promise next year I'll try harder! Love M x_ **

in blue biro. It always made Arthur grin because it was so  _Merlin_  - so last minute and thrown together, and yet somehow still perfect.

There was only one photo inside the album. It was a photo of Arthur and Merlin sitting in the sunshine together. Arthur was taking up most of the checkered picnic blanket with his legs stretched out in front of him, and his hair was sticking up at odd angles from running his fingers through it too many times. He was grinning at Merlin, who was sitting beside him, legs crossed and shoulders hunched as he squinted down at a book. There was a crease in Merlin's forehead that made it look as though he were concentrating.

Arthur knew Merlin hadn't actually been focused at all, because three seconds after Gwen snapped the photo, Merlin had closed his book and kissed Arthur. It had been warm and soft, Merlin sucking gently at Arthur's bottom lip and threading his fingers into Arthur's hair. Arthur could still remember the taste of it - the sweetness on Merlin's lips from the ice cream he had eaten hours before, and the faint smell of the suncream spread across Merlin's nose and ears. The girls had whistled in delight as Merlin pulled back from the kiss, slipping his hands through Arthur's hair and carefully tugging Arthur's sunglasses over his head, ready to pull on over his own eyes and turn back to reading.

Everything after that was a little blurred in Arthur's mind, but he guessed there must have been chasing and catching and falling down and giggling. There was always a lot of giggling when it came to him and Merlin.

Arthur didn't look at the photo album very often. He only ever ended up flicking through the empty pages that followed that sun-drenched photograph, wondering what pictures could have filled the pages if it hadn't been for Merlin getting sick and fading away. He still had a few photos of the two of them together after Merlin's diagnosis - dressed up in suits ready to see a show, kissing on New Year's Eve, holding hands in the clinic where Merlin had spent his last days - but Arthur could never bring himself to slot them in. At least with the blank spaces, Arthur could still picture Merlin's life following all the possibilities they had first felt that day in the park. At least with the blank spaces, Arthur could imagine taking Merlin to his mother's grave for the first time, or going on that road trip to the states, or proposing in a quiet restaurant tucked away in a corner of London.

At least with the blank spaces, Arthur could still pretend.


End file.
